YouSpeak: What Are Your Memories?

Students reflect on what the 2001 tragedy means to them

Most freshmen were eight years old, most seniors just entering middle school on September 11, 2001—the day four hijacked planes killed nearly 3,000 people, in New York and Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. Since that time, the United States has fought two protracted wars—wars that have lasted more than half the lifetime of many undergraduates.

In a special edition of our weekly feature asking students to answer a single question, “YouSpeak” asks what students remember about the events of that day.

5 Commentson YouSpeak: What Are Your Memories?

Really? Our rights are being taken away? Police brutality? How about safety? Not being overly protective for the greater good? Why don’t you think about that instead of worrying about “being pat down.”

9/11 taught me that maybe giving up a little self-centeredness wouldn’t do us much harm, and that maybe we should give a little effort into giving each other a helping hand.

On Sep 11 2001, I was in the 2nd year of my undergrad back in India. A friend told me that a plane has crashed into the WTC in NYC, and the novice adolosents in us might have had thought it would be a cool thing to watch on the TV. But, when we watched the live footages on TV in the common room, I clearly remember there was a dead silence as everyone watched aghast and speechless in sadness and rage. 9/11 is the most visual image of terrorism seen by the world, and I feel this one incident has made the world unify in the commitment to change in many ways to try to keep the nuicanse of terrorism at bay.

I was one week into my Masters when I saw the breaking news in the TV “America under seize” while leaving for my University. I was struck with shock and awe..thought it was an accident…but parallels were drawn with Pearl Harbor…I realized the magnitude of the attack. It proved that terror can strike anytime anywhere…but it also proved over time that a unified holistic commitment can thwart and disseminate any external forces that can be a threat to the community….making the world a safer place to live.

What a crazy world we live in. Many people claimed that the fall of the Soviet Union was the “end of history,” and that ideological differences would no longer be a major impetus for conflict. But war… War never changes.